Mission Menace Review

Editors' review

The 2013 Mission Menace is the ideal youth/beginner bow. It will fit an enormous range of draw lengths and draw weights. A child could shoot this bow through their entire childhood and youth years if they preferred. It can be more than enough to hunt large came with when the child is at the right age or maturity level to do so. With Mission being Mathews sister company it is known to have quality written all over it and parents can feel comfortable with the reliability of the Menace. It is a nice smooth, shooting, bow that is very easy to adjust for a large range of youth or even adult beginner archers. It is more quiet than anything in the youth class.

Finish

The Menace has a huge amount of color combination options. Every archer can find one that intrigues him or her. It is flat in texture without any shine or glare. The color choices are as follows: Lost Camo AT, Lost Camo Pink, black, white camo/marble, white tiger, green marble, green tiger, pink marble, pink tiger, and blue gator. They all look great and some are quite unique. The finish is durable without and evidence of easy chipping or peeling.

Riser/Limbs

This bow has an axel to axel measurement of 31". It is the just right length for many, however, may be a little long for some real young and smaller shooters. It is a very light 2.95lbs., and some archers may want a little more weight added for stability. The riser has a basic look that is fairly short itself and has good looking cut outs. It doesn't have a string stop, however, it comes standard with a stabilizer bushing. The Menace has split limbs that combined with the riser create a 7.25" brace height. It has a smooth draw and shot that packs good punch even at lower draw weights. This bow is very forgiving for youth archers with it being fairly long for the majority of them. The recoil is not bad for being as light as it is.

Grip

This bow has a composite grip that is soft and comfortable. It is simple and economical, but perfect for this type of bow. It produces very little torque. The grip seems a little a little thick and might be for some small kids' hands. It should do well at staying warmer on hands during cold hunts. It also has a well balanced and steady feel that doesn't make the bow feel like it wants to lean in one direction or the other.

String Suppressers

The Menace does not come with a string stop. Due to it not being a heavy drawing speed bow and it has lots of adjustability it doesn't seem to need a suppresser. There is some vibration, however, it seems to be more noticeable at the lower draw weights.

Eccentric System

The cams have rotating modules on this bow. These adjustments enable it to adjust from a 17" to 30" draw length. This enormous range could fit almost any child and teenager. It has 1" draw adjustment increments and 70% let off providing plenty of comfort. The Menace does not require a bow press or additional parts to adjust the draw length. This makes it extremely easy for bow owners to adjust it on their own as children grow. The draw weight of this bow has a range of 16lbs. to 52lbs. Mission provides a chart that shows the minimum and maximum draw weights at each draw length. The weight range gradually goes up with each 1" increase in draw length. This is ideal for a youth bow. There is not an IBO rating for this bow.

Draw Cycle/Shoot Ability

The Menace has a nice fluent draw with a fluent hump in the middle. It is well balanced at full draw and it has very little recoil at the shot. The valley is very generous with probably close to a half an inch of play without it wanting to jump back forward. This is another perfect feature on a youth bow. The back wall is a little spongy, but not enough to create any problems for a beginning shooter. Even though this bow is well harmonized it could still use a stabilizer, for at least some of the older shooter, due to it being so light. The cable guard is the slide type and it is on a carbon rod. It does its job well especially for this level of a bow.

Silencing Package

This bow is one of if not the quietest youth bow on the market. It nearly whispers at the shot and the D-Amplifier silencers on the string play a large role in this. These are the only add-ons to the string and the only silencers on the bow. These are clearly enough to hush this bow.

Comparisons

Bow	Mission Menace	Mission Craze
Version	2014	2014
Picture
Brace Height	7.25 "	7.5 "
AtA Length	31 "	28 "
Draw Length	17 " - 30 "	19 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	16 lbs - 52 lbs	15 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	fps	306 fps
Weight	2.95 lbs	3.6 lbs
Let-Off	70%	80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$150 to $276 Compare prices	$210 to $650 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Mission Craze is a step above the Menace in their line of bows. The riser is probably the major difference between the two and Craze is 3" shorter ATA. The Craze is also a dual cam bow, but probably is faster than the Menace. The Craze has draw weights of 15lbs to 70lbs which is 1lb lighter and 18lbs heavier than the Menace. The draw length is adjustable out to 30" on both bows, however the Menace will go 2" shorter to 17". The Menace is .65 lbs. lighter with the Craze weighing 3.6lbs. The MSRP of the Craze is only $30 more with an MSRP of $288.

Perfect Usage

This is the ideal youth bow for learning the sport, growing with the sport, discovering 3D shooting, and hunting. When it is at some of its higher draw weights it would be sufficient for deer hunting for the beginner in an archer. It will fit almost any youth that is ready to start shooting a "real" bow for the first time until they are quite experience. It would most likely even work for some adult women who are just starting out.

Value

The Mission Menace is well worth its price. It is more than some youth bows and less than others. However, it is very well built with a larger range of adjustment than the majority of them on the market. If a youth or beginning archer is genuine about learning the sport they will get more than their money's worth out of this bow. You can't go wrong with it.

Summary

This bow has "let me show you how" written all over it. It is smooth, forgiving, light, and highly adjustable for any sized youth archer. It fills a niche along with the Craze in Mission's line up, however, the Menace will fit a smaller shooter. The dual cams give it good speed even at lighter and shorter draws. Mission has good quality like Mathews, but no quite as flashy. It is comfortable to shoot and shouldn't put a bad taste in a new archer's mouth. The color options available on the Menace should be enough to excite most youths itself. Its enormous range of adjustability should satisfy a huge range of kids and adults. The MSRP is $269 and should fit the price range of many, but may be a little too high for others.